Chapter Fourteen: I Am One Step Away From Being Rich, All I Need Now Is Money
~Pablo Picasso
Welcome to the fourteenth chapter of When Wishes Come True!
Answering reviews!
writingficsandbreakinghearts: ooh, nice quote! And I stand by what Jamie (I, technically) said: Tiergan is kinda creepy. Also... very close, that theory is. About Willa, I mean. But it would be kind of insane if Jamie was Juline's daughter, wouldn't it? Maybe she will be, maybe she won't... But I'll keep that idea in mind. And I'm glad you find Jamie realistic and well-written! Let me know if you feel like there's anything I should change about her!
bookhawks: thanks! Yeah, there is definitely a lot of character development in store for Jamie... I'll admit, I was really confused when you said that you'd get pheonix to read it... Yeah, I know, I'm stupid...
Guest: well, why do you think so?
MidnightBunnyy: hmm... maybe... What's your reasoning behind that?
Recap: so, we met Tiergan (who's weird), Lord Cassius (who's rude and snobbish and—you know what, I don't feel like listing every possible negative trait), and Willa (who honestly seems kind of naïve).
Is it just me, or is anyone else wondering just how strange Foxfire is if they hire people like that?
Word count: 2,814
ONTO THE NEXT CHAPTER!
Okay, Jamie did not expect Tiergan to agree to train Sophie in the ways of the Telepath. Not because she thought that Sophie was a bad student or something, but because Tiergan did not seem like he was going to put aside his intense hatred for Alden for Sophie's sake. If Jamie was a paranoid person, she might've felt that he had an ulterior motive or something, but...
Honestly, Jamie was more of a laidback kind of gal. Unless you got her angry. Then you'd most likely suffer the Wrath of Jamie️ and wake up bald the next morning. And also—
Actually, why was she revealing all of her mildly malicious plots?
Anyway, it seemed that Tiergan's rude and obnoxious behavior didn't affect Alden. He laughed. "Well, that went better than expected." he stated just before he... licked a panel on the enormous gates of Everglen. And while Jamie knew that it might sound a little hypocritical, seeing as she wasn't exactly the epitome of class and poise, that was really gross. Like, for an advanced society, they sure seemed keen on spreading COVID-19.
Speaking of...
WASH YOUR HANDS, EVERYONE!
Ignorant of her thoughts, Alden took Sophie's hand. He left Jamie's hand alone, thankfully, seeming to understand that she wasn't very keen on physical contact. She wasn't afraid of it or anything, but she had always liked her space.
"Come on, Sophie, Jamie," Alden started, his voice kind. "Let's see if I can't answer some of those questions I'm sure are floating around in your head."
As he led them through Everglen's sprawling grounds, Jamie couldn't help but ask, "So, uh... Are all the mentors so... weird?"
She fiddled with her hair nervously, twirling her brown locks around her index finger. She could feel her face grow a little warm. Her voice came out quiet. Soft. Timid. She hesitated.
When it came to talking, Jamie was really only good at a few things, and those were one-on-one conversations with people she knew well (Sophie was included, of course, since Jamie had practically seen things through her point of view), breaking the ice with jokes or sarcasm, and talking back to people who had lost her respect. She was really good at the last one, actually; it was like any and all awkwardness melted away more the ruder she got. Unfortunately, being rude isn't the most desired trait.
Even more unfortunate was her skills in asking questions—or lack thereof. She had no idea how others asked questions without feeling like a failure. Maybe it was a pride thing (Jamie was prideful), or because she'd been told to stop asking questions when she was younger, or maybe it was a miserable mixture of both; no matter the reason, Jamie couldn't ask questions without feeling stupid.
Alden didn't notice. He chuckled. "Most are quite... well, normal for elves. Lord Cassius, Lady Willa, and Sir Tiergan are the exceptions."
"And Lady Belva. And Lady Galvin. And Sir Aster. And Sir Bubu." Fitz listed, and Jamie couldn't help but laugh. Well, she tried to hold it back, but it just sounded like a snort.
"Sir Bubu?" she repeated, snickering. "You're kidding, right?"
Fitz looked quite pleased to have made her laugh, she noticed, and normally, she would've felt like punching that slightly smug but mostly bright smile off his face (especially because it made him look, like, ten times cuter—wait, what? Jamie would never even think something like that! That was disgusting! Ugh... she needed to wash her brain with bleach), but she was too busy trying to not laugh too much and make herself look like a fool.
She was pretty sure everyone already thought she was mental, though...
Jamie tuned out Alden's speech about Foxfire—but not because she thought she was too good for it or anything. She literally already knew everything she needed to know about Foxfire: she had eight subjects, two sessions a day—plus study hall and lunch—and said sessions were taught (normally one-on-one, but with a few exceptions to the rule) by members of the nobility called Mentors.
But then there were the things Alden didn't say.
He didn't mention that they would be behind by... well, a lot. For someone like Jamie, who didn't exactly excel at her classes but never actually failed a test, it would be embarrassing. Of course it would. She couldn't even ask questions without feeling stupid, and now she was behind in class. It wasn't exactly optimal conditions for such a proud girl.
But Sophie...
Sophie was literally falling from higher than the top to the bottom. Jamie couldn't even come close to imagining how that must feel—mainly because she was never, you know, even in reachable distance of being at the top.
Unless you counted being at the top of pranking. Then Jamie could've won a Nobel Peace-less Prize for it.
But Sophie had other things on her mind that her academics (for once). "What am I supposed to tell my family?" she asked Alden. "They're not going to let me disappear everyday with no explanation."
Just then, some sort of instinct took over Jamie, and she would've sworn that she was possessed to say it or something if she didn't sass people too often for it to be because she was possessed. "Why don't you just tell 'em that you're a super powerful elf and you've been offered a position at Glowing Fungus Academy? Surely, that will go well with them."
Fitz let out a sound like he just heard something horrifying while he was choking, like a horrified choke.
Yeah. A horrified choke. Totally makes sense.
Anyway:
"It's Foxfire!"
Before she could fire (not fire Foxfire, of course... Okay, why are you still here, terrible-pun haters? Go away!) something back, Sophie sent her a glare, and holy ravioli... If Sophie ever decided to be evil, she'd be a formidable enemy, and Jamie…
Okay, to be honest, she'd enjoy kicking Sophie's butt in all her Malevolent-Mary-Sue glory.
What? Sophie was totally a Mary-Sue!
Jamie turned back to Alden when he spoke: "About that... Sophie, Jamie, I think we need to have a talk."
Thanks to the sorrow that swam in his teal eyes and weighed down his voice, Jamie Holmes came to the conclusion that it was not going to be a pleasant talk, and she might've been fidgeting in nervous anticipation if she hadn't had multiple not-so-pleasant in her life—and she had a feeling that this wouldn't be too different from the other talks she experienced.
Uh. She was not talking about the puberty talk.
Yeah, she really hoped and—thankfully—doubted that it was going to be a talk about elven puberty.
She shuddered at the thought.
As they followed Alden to his office, his instructions were cut off by... arguing?
When they entered a wide sitting room filled with comfy-looking armchairs and elegant statues, Jamie saw a (beautiful, although that was kind of an unnecessary adjective, since all elves were beautiful...) brunette girl who was maybe Jamie's age shouting at...
Herself?
Yeah, so this very pretty elf girl was shouting at herself. Totally normal.
And then a woman appeared out of nowhere.
Sophie squealed (Fitz snickered at her reaction), and while Jamie wasn't as obvious about her shock, she knew that if she had her phone, she'd be dialing the Ghostbusters' number in frantically.
Which would fail, of course, because ghostbusters weren't real, but whatever.
The woman—who was dressed in an elegant purple gown (yes, a gown! Elves are weird...)—said in a melodious voice that just carried a hint of Fitz and Alden's prominent accent, "You're home."
"Sophie, Jamie, this is my wife, Della." Alden's cheeks were pinched, like he was trying to not laugh (Jamie would've added an "at them", but that seemed kind of unnecessary, because who else would he be laughing at? Glamour Girl?) "And my daughter, Biana," He gestured to Princess Pretty-Pants. "My dear," he added to Della. "I don't believe our guests are used to being around Vanishers."
"Uh, duh!" Jamie wanted to shout. Humans don't turn invisible on a whim! But Della sweet smile and sweeter words kept her from saying that.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Jamie muttered in response to Della's question.
Then, Biana frowned at them. "Is that my dress?"
"Yes," Alden interceded, saving Jamie from answering something that would probably come out much stupider than it sounded in her head. "They needed to borrow it to go on a few errands."
"I can go change," Sophie offered, causing Jamie to mentally berate her for being too nice.
"No, it's fine." Biana looked away, as if it physically hurt her to see her beautiful dresses on the not-so beautiful Jamie and Sophie (well, Sophie was beautiful—not Jamie. Wait, that sounds like she was throwing a pity-party. Okay, Jamie knew she was averagely pretty—wait, that sounds vain. Ugh, why is life so hard?) "You can keep it. It's kind of frumpy."
"Oh... thanks."
Jamie found herself wondering if Sophie was seriously naïve enough to think that Biana was giving her dress away out of the kindness of her heart.
"Quinlin sent the files you requested," Della told Alden. "I put them in your office." Suddenly, her smile faded. "And the Council denied our request. But they did approve Grady and Edaline."
Grady and Edaline? For real? That's amazing! Grady and Edaline were—
Okay, so maybe she didn't actually know who exactly Grady and Edaline were, but she did know they were awesome.
Alden ran a hand through her hair—the same way Fitz and Jamie both did when they were frustrated, she realized. "In that case, I'd better make a call." He turned to Sophie and Jamie. "And then we'll have a long talk, okay?"
Jamie nodded. As she watched Alden set off down the hall, she could feel Della and Biana's eyes on her. She gulped as she came to a decision that she knew she'd regret.
She turned to face them, made a motion that was like a mixture of a two-fingered salute and a wave, and said, "'Sup?"
To say that she immediately regretted that she ever opened her mouth was an understatement.
Jamie was mortified.
She just met the two most beautiful people she'd ever seen, and she said 'sup?
Someone call a psychiatrist, 'cause she needed one.
Neither of them seemed to be offended, though. Biana looked confused (although, that was much better than disgusted), and Della... Well, the only difference was that her smile became sympathetic.
"Oh!" Della seemed to remember something. "The Council sent these for you. She held out four small parcels wrapped in thick white paper as she walked over to Sophie first. Della's appearance blinked in and out with every graceful step she took, like a living strobe light.
"She doesn't realize she does it," Fitz explained quietly to Jamie as Della clasped a silver, choker-like cord (like, the necklace, and not some sort of freaky elven torture device) around Sophie's neck. "Vanishers let light pass through their bodies, so they can turn invisible, even when they move."
"So, like light leaping?"
"Kind of. But Vanishers don't go anywhere, they just—"
"Turn invisible, I know." Normally, Jamie wouldn't interrupt him like that, even though he was Fitz Vacker, the most insufferable boy in the world. But Biana was glaring at her, and hairy monkeybrains, she had an intense glare.
Then, Della came over to Jamie, unwrapping a package. "Hold up that pretty brown hair, will you?"
Jamie did as she was asked, and Della fastened a cord that looked similar to Sophie's around her neck. There was a single pendant—an etched silver loop with a small, clear crystal set in the center. Della explained that it was her registry pendant—something that every elf had to wear so they could be found easily if they got lost (or kidnapped, Jamie's morbid brain added, but she kept that in her head). Even though Jamie wasn't very big on jewelry, she had to admit that the registry pendant was pretty. Too bad she actually had to wear it.
Della then handed both Sophie and Jamie a tiny green cube each—not unlike the one Alden had used when he was paying(?) the driver with the eurypterid (ah... She almost let out a dreamy sigh at the thought of her one true love).
"Anytime you need to pay for anything, just give them that. Your birth fund's been activated."
Wait... birth fund?
"I have money?" Sophie asked.
Della nodded. "The standard five million."
"Dollars?"
Richland, were we come! Jamie cheered in her head.
"Lusters," Fitz corrected, laughing a little. "One luster is probably worth a million dollars."
Wait... that would've been one million plus one million—um, times one million...
How much money did elves have?
"What's a dollar?" Biana asked.
"Human money."
She wrinkled her perfect little nose. "Ew."
Jamie bit back a How can money be gross? as Sophie asked, "How can elves afford to give away so much money?"
"We do things differently here," Della explained. "Money is something we have, not something we need. No one ever has to go without."
Wow... The Lost Cities really was utopia...
However, Sophie still couldn't believe it: "But... why does anyone work, then—if they already have money?"
"What else would we do with our time?"
Okay, maybe not utopia...
"I don't know." Sophie shrugged. "Something fun?"
"Work is fun," Della corrected—was she serious right now? "Remember—we're not limited to seventy or eighty years. Once you get used to that idea, I think you'll find our way makes much more sense."
Jamie doubted that she'd ever get used to the idea that she'd live forever, but okay.
"All set?"
Jamie jumped at the sound of Alden's voice; she didn't hear him come in.
Della nodded. "Were you able to change their minds?"
Alden shook her head, and Della's smiling face fell. In fact, everyone looked... sad—except for Biana, who actually looked relieved.
"What's going on?" Sophie asked, her voice giving away her panic.
Alden let out a long, slow sigh. "Come on, Sophie, Jamie. Let's go have that talk."
Well, that just happened.
Is it just me, or does anyone else feel like Biana's behavior—although annoying—was kind of justified?
Anyway... questions!
1. Favorite quote?
2. What is one thing you want Jamie to address (verbally or mentally)?
Also, please vote on my poll for who you ship Jamie with as this is—after all—a romance fanfiction? Remember to either review or PM me on the ship name! Options include Sophie, Biana, Linh, Keefe, Tam, Dex, and Fitz (and other) because—I'm not sure if I mentioned it before—Jamie's bisexual.
Well, thanks for reading! Please review and vote on the poll!
~Sarcasticsnark13
